An area of Nova Scotia farmland known for its historical and agricultural significance was celebrated for World Heritage Day Sunday, as the years-long push to have the area designated a world heritage site gathers momentum.

Grand Pre is an area of farmland on the Bay of Fundy near Wolfville with a storied history that stretches back centuries.

A committee of more than 30 volunteers has been working on the Grand Pre world heritage site nomination package for three years. They plan to submit the package to UNESCO in February 2011.

The group believes the area -- already a national historic site in Canada -- deserves international recognition for its agricultural and cultural history.

From 1682 to 1755, Acadian settlers planted roots in Grand Pre, building dykes to enclose and drain large sections of the marshland. More than 1,000 acres of land were reclaimed from the sea for agricultural uses.

After the Acadians were forced from the area in the deportation of 1755, New England Planters took over the lands and continued the farming traditions established by the Acadians.

"They passed it on to the Planters not by choice, clearly, but they've continued those traditions and today the local farmers are managing those dykes in the same way," Peter Herbin, with Nomination Grand Pre, told CTV Atlantic. "We're finding artifacts out there now that are very significant and it's a very unique location not only in North America, but the world."

The unique heritage of Grand Pre is recognized not only by locals, but by those who came to the weekend's celebration from abroad, including Edwin Raap, a historical geographer from the Netherlands.

"The Bay of Fundy, with its huge tides, and the achievement by the Acadians and later the Planters to make it into fertile marshland – that's very unique," he said Sunday. "The technique itself not so much, but in the natural setting and with all the stories that come with it –- that makes it unique."

With its world heritage program, UNESCO aims to encourage countries to ensure the protection of their natural and cultural heritage. Sites included on the list range from those of great natural beauty, such as the Great Barrier Reef, to man-made sites of great cultural significance, such as the Great Wall of China.

To be included on the list of world heritage sites, sites "must be of outstanding universal value" and meet at least one of 10 selection criteria. The criteria range from a site being a masterpiece of "human creative genius" to a site containing "superlative natural phenomena."

In their working report, the Nomination Grand Pre group says the site is an example of a place "where people have successfully adapted to unique natural constraints and opportunities," noting that Grand Pre carries great cultural significance for many people because of its rich history.

Canada is already home to 15 UNESCO World Heritage sites, including the recently-designated Rideau Canal.

With a report from CTV Atlantic's Jill Matthews